The wanderings and wonderings of a somewhat -UU woman working for a better world

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Life is Good

Thank you, Chrissi, author of Chrissi’s World, for tagging me with this blogging award. My job is to answer these questions and pass the award on to other fine bloggers, who in turn get a bit of a plug and the opportunity to pass the award along. That makes for an easy post for me and a chance to give a hurrah to some other fine writers.

Q1.If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this? If you aren’t anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously so that you could be anonymous now? While I’m not anonymous exactly, I don’t share the names of my kids. While it’s a bit awkward to refer to them as my older and younger, I’ve not come up with pseudonyms for them, and if I did, I’d likely confuse them as often in print with those names as I do in real life with real names. I do like to share some details from my church life and sermons, so anonymity would force some changes I don’t care to make.

Q2.Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side. I don’t have an INNER stubborn side. I have a rather visible stubborn streak that I work hard to counter with deep breathing and mindfulness. Don’t ask this not-so-anonymous blogger’s friends how succesful I am.Q3.What do you really see when you look at yourself in the mirror? I’m pretty pleased with my 41-year-old physical self. I’m finding peace with my slowly increasing number of grey hairs and deepening lines around my eyes. I delight in the muscles in my upper body thanks to four years of martial arts study. Note that I don’t have a full-length mirror in the house…

Q4.What is your favorite summer cold drink? That’s mighty hard to consider in Michigan in the winter, but I’ll tell you a half -caff french-pressed coffee with milk is my favorite warm drink all year round.

Q5.When you take time for yourself, what do you do? I write. That’s the number one soul-warming activity on my list now. I also knit, read voraciously, play Scrabble via Facebook, and spend time with my dear friends. It’s one of the few upsides to divorce — two evenings a week to myself in my own home. Alone.

Q6.Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? I want to get published. I’d like to write enough of what I like to write about to support myself, but that’s probably a reach.

Q7.When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching? Honestly? I was hard-working, high achieving, afraid of failure, and often feeling somewhat socially lost.

Q8.If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see?

Using definition 2a, I’d have to say my most poignant moments revolve around the ending of my marriage, from our sudden separation to the divorce papers that arrived in the mail over a year later. I still find a lump in my throat and tears filling my eyes when I recall those events.

Q9.Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog, or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events? I prefer to write about connections I find and the rabbit trails that lead to those connections. Sure, most of my posts are about me and my kids. I write what I know. I also enjoy writing book and curriculum reviews (largely on quarksandquirks.wordpress.com, my blog largely devoted to educating my kids at home). Even in those, I tend to turn inward, reflecting on how the material or book functioned in our lives. Write what you know, they say.

Q10.If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why? It depends on the day. I’d likely chose writing over either, at least now. On days filled with clamor and chatter, the book sounds great. When I’m needing some adult company and contact, I reach for the phone (or Facebook, email, or the like)

Here’s the point where I get to pass on some of my favorite reads in the blog-a-sphere. While there are dozens I read regularly, here are five current favorites:

Counterpoint: Keith Yancy is far and away one of the wittiest, hilarious, thought-provoking bloggers I know. I can’t plug Keith enough.

Everyday Unitarian : Plaidshoes is prolifically blogging Unitarian Universalist mom who writes about church life, family life, and just plain life.

Vanilla Twice: Cassi writes about mothering two boys with albinism with humor, grace, and honesty. Plus, she’s a fine UU-minister-to-be.

The Journey: Lizard Eater, another Unitarian Universalist seminarian, blogs about church life, seminary, family, and her family’s journey through her young daughter’s cancer.